Keynote Speaking
Do you need an engaging speaker for your next meeting or event?
Change Coaches Founder and CEO LaTonya Wilkins speaks to both large audiences and private teams in a variety of environments including corporations, organizations, and conferences. LaTonya is an experienced coach and DEI consultant, so she knows how to speak to team members at every level of an organization in a truly meaningful way. Below the surface concepts such as belonging and psychological safety are at the heart of all of her talks, making her a powerful intersectionality speaker.
LaTonya isn’t just a cursory DEI speaker or leadership development speaker. She creates value for audiences by permanently challenging the way that they think. She’s a natural on the stage and gets the audience engaged early and often through storytelling, powerful questions, and interesting facts.
LaTonya Wilkins is not your average diversity keynote speaker. Clients often say her work transcends all identities and her talks encompass a broader perspective than many other diversity speakers. You can review some of her testimonials below.
Most Popular Topics:
LEADING BELOW THE SURFACE™: BECOMING THE LEADER THAT THE FUTURE WORKPLACE DEMANDS
Explore the future of work, the world’s biggest problems, and how Leading Below the Surface will help you navigate them.
ELEVATING MULTI-GENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH LEADING BELOW THE SURFACE™
Explore the five generations in the workplace, multi-generational organizations, multi-generational leadership challenges, and how to lead below the surface to navigate them.
HOW TO CREATE A CULTURE OF BELONGING THROUGH LEADING BELOW THE SURFACE™
What a culture of belonging looks like and how to create one through Leading Below the Surface.
HOW TO BE A REAL ALLY
The three levels of allyship, myths, and an actionable allyship model moving forward. The difference between an aspiring ally versus a REAL ally and how to stay below the surface to sustain allyship.
COACHING PEOPLE WHO ARE DIFFERENT FROM YOU / COACHING BELOW THE SURFACE
Common mishaps and how to overcome them when leading and coaching people who are different from ourselves.
Looking for a more affordable option? Try a Fireside Chat!
Fireside Chats with LaTonya consists of a brief talk where LaTonya introduces herself and Leading Below the Surface and then engages in a question and answer session with an organization leader to discuss Below the Surface issues. We do ask that organizations purchase copies of Leading Below the Surface, which are available through Change Coaches at a bulk discount. Fireside Chats are an affordable way to introduce your organization to Below the Surface concepts, and hopefully spark conversations that lead to real change.
Meet LaTonya
My most valuable skill, and the one thing I often teach others, is how to build real relationships across differences.
"I demonstrate what it means to lead below the surface through relatable stories from my career, my family, and through direct experience with other below the surface leaders. We can all lead below the surface and make real change in our organizations. A few small shifts can go a long way."
Founder of Change Coaches and Author of Leading Below the Surface, LaTonya Wilkins coaches CEOs, senior executives, and teams around the world. Global leaders typically call LaTonya when they are facing the following challenges: creating psychologically safe teams, improving connections across differences, effectively coaching their team to create accountability and trust, and building sustainable cultures of belonging.
LaTonya is a sought-after coach and keynote speaker who has inspired audiences across industries. She built her career working in HR, talent management, and learning and development at Fortune 500 companies before teaching and taking on progressive leadership roles at the University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business. LaTonya’s best-selling book Leading Below the Surface: How to Build Real (and Psychologically Safe) Relationships with People Who Are Different from You was recently featured as a top inclusion book for executives on seniorexecutive.com and a top psychological safety book of 2023 by Book Riot. LaTonya was also recognized as an excellent instructor by her undergraduate and MBA students. LaTonya has been featured in publications such as Fast Company, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, Well+Good, and Inc Magazine, and was named a LinkedIn Top Voice in 2024.
LaTonya is active both in business circles and within her community. She teaches Personal Leadership Insights at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. LaTonya is also a former board president at True Star Foundation and Women of Color in the Workplace. Change Coaches, which has earned national certification as a Minority Business Enterprise, became a global business quickly after its inception. LaTonya is an avid hiker and loves the outdoors. She spends as much time in the mountains as possible.
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Are you looking to improve the quality of your conversations across differences?
Psychological safety is the most effective tool for reducing workplace stress, navigating conflict, increasing feelings of belonging, and cultivating the diverse workplaces we want to see. It is one of the most important skills for leaders to cultivate in today’s workplace. This guide includes definitions, a brief assessment, tactics, and coaching/reflection prompts.
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